“We gave everyone a
paid gym membership.
Some never used it. So
we scaled back: If you
go to the gym fve times
a month, the beneft
stays alive. If not, it
drops. We were transparent when answering
questions—that minimized morale dip.”

“When we had a handful
of employees, people
had pretty fexible
schedules, and if someone needed the day off
or to go to the dentist,
they’d just text me.
But when you have 40
people texting for a day
off, you need procedures. I brought everyone into a meeting and
told them that as we
scaled, we’d have to put
more policies in place.
Survival depends on it.
When you phrase it that
way, scheduling time off
two weeks in advance
doesn’t seem so bad.”
—
ARMIR HARRIS
Founder and CEO,
Shofur (logistics and
transportation)

2017 RANK 21
GROWTH 10,448%
REVENUE $12.1 MILLION

h

“Tell them why. I’m a
sugar-free Red Bull
addict, and we used
to stock the fridge
with cases—spending

$300 a month. A few
years ago, I told them:
A penny times 10
isn’t much, but times
a million is serious
money. We have four
times as many employees now—I can’t
imagine how much
we’d be spending if I
hadn’t stopped. But if
you don’t give them a
reason, they’ll make it
up: Is the company
going under? Is he
just being punitive?”

—
GU Y BAUER

Founder and CEO,
Guy Bauer Productions
(advertising and
marketing)

2017 RANK 833
GROWTH 543%
REVENUE $3.1 MILLION

h

“When we had three
or four employees,
everyone had a key to
our shop and could
work on their cars or
friends’ cars anytime.
As we grew, that
wasn’t practical.
When we said that
wasn’t going to work
anymore, we made
sure to set up employee shop time on
certain weekends.”

—
LACEY STEEN

Co-founder and
vice president,
Move Bumpers
(manufacturing)

2018 RANK 204
GROW TH 2,223%
REVENUE $4.9 MILLION

Advice from the founders of America’s fastest-growing companies. As told to Kate Rockwood

h

“How you preface any perk is key. Early on, we let everyone work afour-day week. I made it clear there was no guarantee we’d doit forever. Almost immediately, the culture changed for the worse:People didn’t want to stay late, they didn’t want to help out on theweekend, it wasn’t as collaborative. I gathered everyone and toldthem the results weren’t manifesting. People got it. No one quit.”—TOM GIMBEL Founder and CEO, LaSalle Network (human resources)2017 RANK 4,450 GROWTH 56% REVENUE $55.5 MILLION

Welcome to Coverleaf. We hope you are enjoying your digital issue of .
Want to continue receiving your FREE digital companion issue?
Click the "Get More Issues!" button below and we will deliver your
digital companion directly to your inbox for the term of your print
subscription.